Wireless communication networks, such as cellular telecommunication networks and wireless internet protocol networks, are typically configured from a geographically fixed radio tower or other radio-wave propagating and receiving device. The fixed device will have bidirectional radio signals in a specific communication protocol, such as “time division multiple access” (TDMA, also part of GSM) or “code division multiple access” (CDMA) for cellular telecommunications, or TCP/IP for internet networks. In a TCP/IP protocol, the fixed device may also dynamically assign network addresses to other communication devices that are using the network. Some fixed devices include equipment to support several types of multiple wireless networks, for example, both a GSM and CDMA network, or the cellular networks and a wireless internet network such as those using the WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) standard.
One problem that arises in a wireless network based on geographically-fixed communication devices is that there are a fixed number of communication channels, time slots, and/or addresses to allocate to devices that use the wireless network. If a large number of communication devices need to use the network simultaneously, such as occurs in an emergency response area or a large event like a sporting event or concert, there are insufficient communication channels and address for all the devices present in the geographic area of the wireless communication network. In the worst-case scenarios, the equipment of the fixed device may become overwhelmed by the communication requests from the mobile devices and completely fail.
Another problem occurs where there is a geographical area that has very little or no wireless communication resources and a wireless network is needed to be dynamically created and maintained, such as a remote emergency response or search and rescue site. It is very difficult in advance to determine the resources needed to maintain the wireless network as there no precedence for rate of usage or overall bandwidth needed.
There are extant portable and temporary wireless communication devices that can set up and maintain a wireless network for a geographic area, and in some instances, provide additional support to an existing wireless communication network. Examples of these devices are mobile radio towers that are driven to a geographic area and setup to host the network, typically being a monodirectional or bidirectional emergency frequency radio communication network for push-to-talk or other handheld devices. The portable and temporary tower can also host cellular telecommunications and can support existing fixed geographical wireless network devices. There are also aerial-devices creating an aerial-based wireless network for a geographical area using aerial vehicles, such as airplanes, helicopters, blimps, and satellites.
A problem with both land and air based temporary wireless network devices is that they have limited resources and cannot dynamically adapt the network to surging network usage. Nor do these devices address a change in the geographical network if the wireless network providing device is moving, or coordinate with other mobile wireless network equipment to quickly and efficiently handle the problems of needed increased network bandwidth or other geographical shifting of the temporary wireless network.